The present invention relates to a motorcycle and, more particularly, to a motorcycle, principally of the scooter type, in which a fuel tank and an engine unit are carried between the front and rear wheels.
In such motorcycles of the prior art, a cylinder portion of the engine unit is generally provided to rise at a considerable angle. In contrast with this, from Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-154964 (No. 154964/1985) it is known that the cylinder portion of the engine unit can be made to extend horizontally so as to dispose the fuel tank and the engine unit between the front and rear wheels in a substantially horizontal and rectilinear manner. In the prior art motorcycles, the wheel base is shortened, but the cylinder portion is a hindrance in that the space between the cylinder portion and the seat is reduced. In the motorcycle of Japanese Laid-Open No. 154964/1985, however, because the fuel tank and the engine unit are arranged rectilinearly, a large space is formed between the upper portion of the engine unit and the lower portion of the seat. This advantage is obtained at the cost of having a longer wheel base.
Also, as evidenced by the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 154964/1985, in motorcycles of the concerned type it is characteristic to provide a chamber beneath the seat that is capable of containing a helmet. Such chambers, however, are typically incapable of containing two helmets beneath the seat. For example, in two seater motorcycles, when a helmet-containing chamber is arranged beneath the seat in order to utilize the lower space of the seat for containing two helmets, one of which is a large sized helmet for driver, there is the inconvenience that the seat height from the ground increases and the vehicle body becomes larger. Also, when a large sized longitudinally extensive containment chamber is provided beneath the seat and it extends over substantially the full length of the seat, if such a motorcycle runs with only one helmet contained in the chamber, there is the problem that the helmet is loose in the chamber and, thus, is shaken during running and thereby becomes damaged.
It is to the amelioration of these problems, therefore, that the present invention is directed.